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7/06/2007

My Desire to Not Look Like a Little Girl > My Fear of Heights...

Those who know me best (as well as my students) know that I have two great fears in life (or at least two that I'm willing to publicly admit on this blog): the dark and heights. Well, tonight I had to excercise my mental toughness and conquer one of them.

Since his wife was away at a wedding rehearsal tonight, Jarred was free to hang out. So, since most of our friendship was built around food, we decided to cook. Editor's Note: Mountain of French Toast + Hash Browns + Scrambled Eggs = delicious supper. (By the way, I FINALLY mastered the suttle art of the scrambled egg. Boo Yah!)

After supper and the obligatory round of video games, the time came to drive Jarred back to the church. As we exited the residence and rounded the corner to my parking space, we saw a ladder on the next apartment building over. But, this wasn't just any ladder. It was the kind that was attached to the building and stopped about 7 feet off the ground. Since both Jarred and I are climbers, he suggested that we ascend to the rooftop above. Now, this would sound like a good idea to me, save two things: 1) It's a residence and could, henceforth, be illegal. And 2) I knew I'd be OK getting up the ladder, but not so much with the down.

"Dude, when's the last time you did something bad? So, what, now you're all 'I'm a boring grown-up who never does anything dangerous and exciting?'"

Editor's Note: I can't stand having someone tell me I can't do something. Nor can I stand the insinuation that I'm, in any sense of the word, "old".

It was at this point that my heart rate went up, along with my adrenaline, as I began to think about my fear of heights. However, Jarred's challenge to my youth and manhood superceded this fear. So I decided to go.

As I jumped up, taking hold of the bottom rung of the ladder, I felt my shoulders and back tighten. I pulled myself up three rungs using my arms and, at this point in my journey up, decided that it was time my legs got involved. As I swung my lower body up to join the game, I tried my best to keep looking up. Once my Rainbows connected, I quickly completed the ascent. Upon mounting the summit of my neighboring building, I realized that a sharp pain was eminating from my upper left shin. As it turns out, I had hit it on the ladder but didn't realize it.

So, after a few minutes in the great blue yonder, we decided to descend back to the land of mere mortals. As I stepped out onto the top rung and turned around, I remembered why I thought this was a bad idea. I climbed down, down, down, and finally reached the last rung. I lowered myself down until I felt like my strength was at its end. As I perilously dangled above my certain demise, I cried out for Jarred's (and God's) help.

"Dude, just look down. Look at where you are."

Yeah, 6 inches off the ground. So, I just let go.

Upon landing back on solid ground, I pulled up my left pants leg. Turns out I have a sweet little souvenir from our late night climb: a 2 inch long gash.

Maybe, next time, I should force myself to be OK with looking like a little girl. At least then I wouldn't have a red streak on my jeans...